Hitchhiking 101

Ok, here's the thing about today...and I'm not proud of it...but there was some hitchhiking. Well, technically not hitchhiking, because we didn't stick out our thumbs or anything, but....

It was kinda a horrible day to ride. Tons of hills, and the weather was crappy. About 14 miles into the ride, it started to rain. Hard. I had some "laundry" hooked to the back of the bike drying, so that was a bust. We trekked on for another 6 miles until the rain let up a little bit. By then we were soaked to the bone. And cold. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't have stopped if we wanted to. Eureka (the town we were in the previous night) and Ely (the town where we were headed) are separated by 78 miles of NOTHING. There is no gas station, no restaurants or cafes, no rest stops....the only thing on the road worth mentioning are two little white tables set up for passing drivers to lunch on. No water, no hills to camp in....getting my drift?

So Bethany and I had no choice but to make it to Ely. We weren't really psyched about the hills, but they weren't too bad to start. Not to mention that ever UP hill has a DOWN:). Fun times.

Anyway, we are still on Highway 50 (I KNOW!) for the fourth day (ugh), and the rain has just started to let up after 6 miles. Mom and Grum, stop reading now. Most of Highway 50 has pitiful shoulders for bikers to ride on, but this particular portion had none at all, so we were out in the road a little bit....with vehicles passing at 70+ mph. It is not ideal, but what can you do? The road gets a little twisty, and around one particular turn, we were out of sight of any vehicle coming behind us (even with my stupid little yellow flag flying behind my trailer). A motorcycle was coming on the opposite side of the road, and we hear the familiar rumbling of a vehicle behind us at the same time....but he can't see us, and we're in the lane. **Before I go on, can I just tell you how freakin' rare it is to have two vehicles crossing at the same time we are on the road? Like, next to impossible. We go miles without seeing anything. I'm serious, this was weird** Anyway, this story is getting long, but lets just say we are almost run off the road by this giant blue pick-up truck that didn't see us. I didn't think it was that big of a deal....he didn't even seem that close. Or we're getting used to it. One or the other.

But the story gets better....about half an hour down the road, a big blue pick-up truck is coming from the opposite direction, and it is slowing down...a lot. Then the truck comes to a stop, and the driver rolls down the window to ask if we are ok. This guy (sweet sweet old man...Angela, you would love him!) took the time to turn around and come back to check on us, albeit 30 minutes later. But to make it up to us, he said he would give us a ride to Ely! Well, who are we to say "no"? I'm glad he almost ran us off the road with a pick-up, because we would have had some trouble if it was a sports car.

Bob ended up being a super sweet retired man from Reno who was on the way to visit his father in Colorado one last time before he passed away (his dad is 97). We had some delightful conversation, and as it turns out, he got his giant blue pick-up truck 2 days ago and wasn't really comfortable using it yet. Lucky for us, I guess? Five minutes after we got in the truck, it started to storm. And this time there was lightning...so I took it as a sign. The Big Man must have been looking out for us.

Bob was great, and Bethany and I thanked him for the ride when we got to Ely an hour later. I really had trouble restraining myself from giving Bob a giant bear hug, and for any of you that know my obsession with cute old men, you know where I'm coming from.

So now we're in Ely, approximately 5 hours earlier than expected. And before you ask, yes, I feel like a little bit of a cheater, but I'm in it for the experiences, not to get killed by lightning or giant blue pick-ups:) Lucky for us there was another library in Ely with internet access. We're staying at a historic motel/casino/dive bar/restaurant, and the plumbing is so old that there are written warnings everywhere telling us that the shower can switch from hot to cold without warning. Awesome. The peep hole is actually just a hole in the door, and anyone can see inside. Also awesome. But on the bright side, we got tickets for a free margarita at the hotel bar...and that really is awesome. No sarcasm.

I really really really wish there was some way that I could upload pictures. We have some fabulous images from Cali (not so much from Nevada because it is a giant waste of good land. How anything survives here is beyond my understanding), not to mention I have some great images of my new haircut. Out with the long brown, in with the very short black. Yikes.

We have some camping ahead of us, so not sure when the next post will be:) If you care enough to be reading this, you're super-cool. And thats no joke. :)